001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Give us 3 seconds and we are live and good to go. Okay, I'd like to call this Hopatcong Board of Education regular meeting to order at 6 6:05 05. Will you all please rise for the flag salute? I pledge >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And we have the opening statement according to the agenda. Mr. Hallenbach, can you please call the roll? Dr. Capella Here. Mr. Davio Here. Ms. Schram Here. Mr. Chaffee is absent this evening. Mr. Warren Here. Ms. Paluchina Here. Mr. Sitgreaves >> Here. Ms. Goulart will be joining us virtually later and Ms. Falcone Sheaffer Here. Can I please have a motion to go in executive
002session? I'll make it. >> I'll second. Uh Ms. Capella Yes. Mr. Davio Yes. Ms. Schram Yes. Mr. Chaffee is absent. Mr. Warren Yes. Ms. Paluchina Yes. Mr. Sitgreaves Yes. Ms. Goulart is absent. Ms. Falcone Sheaffer Yes. Same button. Uh you're going to hit pause this time. >> Mhm. >> I still have a tool here but I want to see if he hasn't come back yet. Hi everybody. >> laptop. Can I just have a motion to reconvene? Second. Mr. Allenbaugh, can you please call the roll? Can we ask Matt? Can you grab my laptop off my desk so I can get her in? We do have one board member this evening that's going to be attending virtually, so uh just want to What are you doing? grab the ability to to get her on. Actually, I
003could do it from my phone if we had to. Um let me just get the roll call here. Dr. Capella? Here. And Mr. Daviau? Here. Ms. Schram? >> Here. Mr. Chaffee is absent this evening. Mr. Warren? Here. Ms. Polichena? Here. Yes. Mr. Sitrick? >> Here. Ms. Gooran is absent right now until I get her on and Ms. Falcone Shevitz. >> Yes, here. Just told her to stand by. Yep, perfect. Can I please have a motion to approve the April regular and executive minutes? I'll make it. >> I'll second. Any discussion? Dr. Capella? Yes. Mr. Davila? Yes. Ms. Schram? >> Yes. Mr. Chaffee is absent. Mr. Warren? Yes. Ms. Paluchina? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? >> Yes. Ms. Gooran is absent and Ms. Falcone Shevitz. >> Yes. Next, we move on to the Superintendent's report and his report.
004All right, let's see how I can do multitasking today. Wait. Maybe abstaining from this vote from the minutes. Right. Uh, he he can he can review them in the Yep. Sorry. All right, um, Superintendent's report this evening. I always want to defer to our student representatives to kick things off. I'm not going to guess what order you guys are going to go in tonight, so keep me on my toes as I try and get logged in and I'll get one of our board members to join and who's who's up first? All right, it's all you, Reagan. >> Go ahead, Reagan. Good evening, everyone. First off, I'd like to talk about spring sports. Most have finished their season besides softball. They have two home games tomorrow and Wednesday, so come support the girls. Um, on spring
005sports this season, guys track ended with a record of five and one in the dual meet season and girls track had their first win in a dual meet in about seven years. It's been a while. Um, with sports, the sports award ceremony for all seasons is tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium to celebrate our athletes from all seasons. Student council elections for class and school officers officers are taking place this Wednesday. And the end National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society induction ceremony is this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Come and congratulate all the inductees we have this year. Um like we like to congratulate all AP students for their work for the school year. Testing wrapped up last Friday and we had students take exams for chemistry, English literature,
006US history, English language, world history, environmental science, and psychology. And prom is at the Chandelier in Flanders next Friday, 5/20. And come see your students at red carpet in the high school gym beforehand. Um and thank you for having me this year. Absolutely. >> Thank you. Eileen. Hello. Uh good evening. Um these past uh these upcoming 2 weeks we have the English ELA testing. That's May 18th through 29th. Today we had our math testing. The reading testing is tomorrow. The writing is the 21st and the science is the 26th and 27th. The makeup tests will be for the 20th, 22nd, and 28th. Our literary magazine is getting ready to be sent to the publisher. We're just putting the final touches on the magazine and making sure that that everything looks good and is aesthetically pleasing.
007Uh stop by the English classrooms cuz I believe that they'll be getting copies as we did previous years if you want to look through them. All of the work is submitted by students and teachers at our school. And we're trying to do a section this year where we have some of the middle schoolers who want to some of the seventh graders can submit things to the literary magazine as like aspiring chiefs. I think it's a really cool idea and I think that this is going to be one of our better magazines. Also, our yearbook has been sent to the publisher and it's scheduled to arrive in the last week of school. So hopefully we'll get it before the last day of school so that we have enough time for everyone to sign everyone's yearbooks. I
008was also on yearbook staff and I can say it looks very cute this year. Our cheerleading team has already begun its fundraising for this upcoming season. Um we we will be at the town wide garage sale June 6th and June 7th by firehouse number three in Hopatcong. Um we're very excited to start our fundraising early this year because we are hoping to go to Disney again next year as we did this previous year. Also, this year we're trying to become a tumbling team, which is very exciting because it's been a while since we've been a tumbling team, and that's such a big part of cheerleading that we're all very excited that we think we might actually accomplish it this year. Our senior awards um will be on June 2nd. That's where scholarships will be presented
009by a bunch of miscellaneous groups. Um I'm very excited. Everyone People can show up and support their seniors or favorite seniors. Um our concert band had our concert last Thursday. We had our fifth and sixth grade band who performed earlier in the night, and then we had a little bit of a break, and then we had a bunch of performances starting with our jazz band, then we had the seventh grade band with the Tri-M uh Tri-M high schoolers helping out with them, and then we had our eighth through 12th grade band. Um I played in the concert, and it seemed like everyone really enjoyed it. I was there for the middle school concert as well. Everything went really well. So that was great. Lastly, our uh our strolling programs song "Chiquitita" from the musical "Mamma
010Mia" will be going to state teen arts, and everyone who was in that number is very very excited about it. Lastly, thank you all so much for having me this year and for having us this year. We really appreciate it. Thanks, Lily. >> Natalia? Our service is so >> [laughter] >> I'm going to segue off of what she said about Chica Tina. Not only that, we had a lot of artwork that also was selected for State Trumbull Arts. And then on top of that, each school was allowed to send three small ensemble pieces. They can be solos or just like small numbers for like the small ensemble instrumental section. And all three pieces that Hopatcong sent all got selected for state and they only take like three or four. So, that was really big. It's
011um I'm performing a solo. Natalie Labob, senior clarinet player, is also performing a solo and then the two of us are also performing a duet. So, that's great along with the artwork. I'm pretty sure we're all really happy about this how State Trumbull Arts is going to come out. That's on June 2nd. Um so, along with that, Tri-M, who performed with our seventh graders as Lillian said, will also be having our annual recital on June 5th, a Friday. It's great. It's a lot of fun. Usually there's snacks, refresh- refreshments. Uh but and there's a lot of good music and it's all student led. It's we have our supervisor, our band director supervises and then the students run the show and it's really we have a lot of fun with it. It's like our favorite thing
012to do all year along with our service projects. Um upcoming is the Thespian induction / showcase. Come support our new inductees. Uh there's in along with that, the showcase should really make it worth everybody's time. It's a small dude donation to the organization and everyone else is performing. I know Lillian is performing. You guys are performing. We are doing or I am in two numbers. We're doing "Ex-Wives" from Six and we're also planning on doing "Cell Block Tango" from Chicago. Those are two very fun numbers. Yes, and there's a lot more. So, it'll it should be really good. Um and then also this past Sunday, just yesterday, the marching band had our car wash at Lakeside Tire. It seemed like everyone was having a really good time. I mean, we're washing cars. And like how
013fun [laughter] can it get me washing a car? I know I watched my sister wash uh hose off cars, that was really entertaining. Um along with that, the sign-ups for marching band, and I know Lillian just said that cheerleading started fundraising, so the sign-ups for marching band are due on May 28th, and our first rehearsal will be June 3rd, so it'll be I think the earliest that the marching band has ever started. So, I know that personally, as someone who's going to be a senior, I'm really excited to start early. Um and then this Saturday and this Monday are our Memorial Day parades that we'll be marching in, same for for the marching band. Uh the step-off for the Saturday one in Hopatcong is at 10:00 a.m. by the police station, and then the one
014in uh on Monday in Stanhope uh / Netcong, the step-off is at 1:00 p.m. just in the area. So, come support the marching band. We've been rehearsing Our last rehearsal was on Wednesday, and I'm sure there's a lot of kids that are really excited to march, [clears throat] and some their first time marching in a parade, so uh along with that, the So, this this next one's kind of big, and I I know I've been performing with the ensemble for the past like I'd say two to three two years. Um so, the Sussex County Youth Orchestra, the concert this year is being hosted at Hopatcong High School. Normally, it's housed at uh it's hosted at other high schools nearby, and it's a an organization that they just they love to support us. They I know
015um they're off they're offering It's all student It's all selected. The kids are selected just based off of their performance in uh county organizations, and they're offering scholarships to kids in our school, and it's really great cuz they give a lot of so many great opportunities. And then on top of that, two of our seniors, Natalie Leibov and Dominic Amella, on clarinet and trumpet, will be performing solos with the orchestra. They They'll be in the front of the stage performing a solo in front of everybody. So, that's a really really exciting. Um on top of that, NJSLA testing is happening. I don't know if somebody mentioned that. Uh so, NJSLA testing, um and our finals will be June 4th, 5th, >> [clears throat] >> 8th, and 9th. So, the Thursday in June, the Friday, the
016Monday, and the Tuesday. So, good luck to all students that are taking finals, and I mean, yeah, it's a final, so. And then, uh, lastly, I just, on behalf of all three of us, I'd like to thank everyone for having us all year. I think I speak for everybody when I say that we really love doing this, and we hope to continue and support the community in any capacity that we can actually. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, girls. Just a point on finals, too. I spoke to Mr. Jensen, the final's going to count, if it's a full-year [snorts] class, for 10% of your grade for the year. I know that midterms were a little different, things like that, so spread the word. They matter. Absolutely. Ladies, I want to, um, I want to thank you, right?
017On behalf of the board, certainly myself. The meetings that you've been able to attend, given your crazy schedules and all of the things that you are involved in, it, it's a great way, one, for the board to hear from you and a lot of the, the wonderful things that you do, but also for the community to hear all of the great things that go on in our high school, and that our students in this wonderful community are part of. And, you know, sometimes it's only the, the difficult things or the bad things, right, that everybody hears about. They don't always get to hear about the wonderful students that we have here. You all are, are shining examples of that, um, and I want to thank you for, one, for being here, and two, for putting
018your hearts into this community and Hope Academy High School. So, thank you, ladies. I really appreciate it. Thanks, girls. Going to keep my, um, the rest of my report brief this evening. Um, there is one change on the agenda under item C. Uh, we will be approving the second reading of Hib reports for April. We will not be approving Hib reports for May on first reading. That will occur during the June meeting. Okay, so we will simply be striking Hib reports for May 2026 on first reading that were presented this evening. With that, any questions for the board or from the board before we call roll on this one? You want to get a motion? >> Yes, sure. Um, can I please have a motion to approve on the superintendent's for item seven. I'll make
019it. Second. There we go. Dr. Capella? Yes. Mr. Davia? Yes. Ms. Schram? Yes. Mr. Chaffee is absent this evening. Mr. Warren? Abstain. Thank you, sir. Ms. Colacurcio? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? Yes, sir. Ms. Gulotta abstains. Ms. Falcone-Chewber? Yes. Okay, next we'll move on to acknowledgement and correspondence. So, congratulations to the following students who were chosen as Hopatcong Middle School students of the month for their outstanding performance in April. Grade five, Ashley Arnold. Grade six, Amir Beshay and Avery O'Brien. And grade seven, Hayden Dockhorn. Congratulations to the following students who were chosen as Hopatcong High School students of the marking period for their outstanding performance in the third marking period of 2025-26. Grade eight, Riley Stort. Honorable mention, Kennedy Ram Ramiando. Brin Tracy and John O'Brien. Grade nine, Grace Jagardis. Honorable mention, Salome and Salome Hurtado and
020Genesis Santos. Grade eight, Elijah Ban Bailey. Grade nine, Tamia Szabo. Honorable mention, Dane Wek. Grade 12, Kayla Wright. Honorable mention, Kion Simpson. And now we'll take a moment to honor our student Board of Ed representatives. Whereas Natalia Gerena Roman, Reagan Grewal, and Lillian Zinzarella have served with distinction on the Hopatcong Board of Education. And whereas through their leadership, the Hopatcong Board of Education has gained fresh insights into student concerns, student priorities, and what is on the mind of young people in our community. And whereas they have further contributed to the community by serving as a valuable spokesperson, sharing the student perspective at board meetings. And whereas Natalia, Reagan, and Lillian exemplarily commit they have a exemplary commitment to fellow students and the school district as promoted through clear communication between the board, district administration, and
021the student body. And whereas Natalia, Reagan, and Lillian has maintained a professional decorum at board meetings, shown respect to board members, and strived to learn the proper etiquette of serving on a school board. And whereas they have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the education of all students without neglecting their own responsibility to strive for success in the classroom. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Hopatcong Board of Education recognizes Natalia Gerena Roman, Reagan Grewal, and Lillian Zinzarella's dedication and commitment to the advancing educational opportunity and communication between the board, district administrators, and the student body. And be it further resolved that the members of the Hopatcong Board of Education extend their sincere appreciation to Natalia, Reagan, and Lillian for their dedicated service on the Hopatcong Board of Education. And be it further resolved that the
022members of the Hopatcong Board of Education extend their best wishes to Natalia Gerena Roman, Reagan Kravat, and Lillian Zinsley in all of their future endeavors. Thanks, girls. And just as a side note, we did put applications out for our Board of Ed student representatives. So, everyone is welcome to apply. You can apply online. It's for rising juniors and seniors, and the due date is this Wednesday. Okay, next we'll move on to parent-teacher organization representatives. Hi. Hi, Ms. Nikki. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, I've I've missed you guys. I haven't been here in a few meetings. She kind of stole everything that I could talk about. Um so, yes, our new season uh the kids' applications are due for marching band on May 28th. They are having She's having leader auditions on June 1st. That's really exciting
023for our upperclassmen. Um and we're already planning for this upcoming marching band season. That's earlier for us. It's usually something that happens right before band camp in August. Band camp is scheduled for the second week of August. Um we're kind of figuring out how that's going to look because the building is going to be closed. That's fine because we're super flexible. Um so, we're really excited for next year. Thank you so much for everything that you all did this year because it was a year that had some challenges, but I think the kids did a really good job. They were resilient. Um and they had a great year. And I'm looking forward to an even better year next year. Thank you. And you, Project Graduation? Uh I was just going to say for HEPTO, um
024their color run is June 6th at Hilton. Mhm. At like 2:00 if I remember that time correctly. And then they have their ice cream social on June 9th at Tulsa at 6:00. Thank you. Project Graduation, we're on the home stretch. Um we're going to be hosting it uh June 11th and through the night and into the morning of June 12th, we're having it at Spa 23. We are still looking for some parent volunteers to do the overnight. Uh you will ride the bus out with the kids. You will get to chaperone the kids. We feed you all night long. You can partake in the entertainment we have. Um and then bagel breakfast when you return. Thank you. Um I just have an update from the PTSO. Uh we purchased Zorb balls for the school. Have
025you seen those things? For you like it's a big bubble and you just you know I don't know. Bounce into them. >> Bounce into each other? Yes, the insurance company approved it. Um I'm not sure what it'll be used for, but I'm hoping like a fun field day. >> [laughter] >> Um and we are going to have our ice cream social on June 3rd during all lunches. So, we'll send an email out to you all. It's always a fun day. Um I just love looking at the pictures of the kids eating the SpongeBob and Spider-Man ice cream. You're never too old. And teachers, I should say, and teachers. >> Yeah. Um that's it from the PTSO. So, anybody else? All right. Next we can move on to public comment. Thank you. Oh, nobody's on it.
026Is anybody in the pub- would anybody in the public like to speak who didn't get a chance to sign in? Okay. Let's move on to finance. Can I please have a motion for finance item 11? I'll make it. Second. Either one. I'll take either. Flip a coin. Any discussion on finance items 11? Um that should be We're just keeping it D. Where's my mass set? Finance goes right to D. Okay, so all of 11. Any Any discussion on finance? Okay, hearing none. Dr. Capella? Yes. Uh Mr. Davia? Yes. Ms. Schram? Yes. Mr. Chappie is absent. Mr. Warren? Yes. Ms. Palacena? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? Yes. Ms. Goulart? Yes. Yes. And Ms. Falcone Schubert? Yes. May I please have a motion to move item 12, personnel? Make it. Second. Any discussion? I would just like to take
027a moment. Item A on the agenda is Ms. Mary Burns. Ms. Burns has been with us for 22 years. She will be retiring at the conclusion of this school year. I've had an opportunity to work with Mary as a middle school principal, a high school principal, and throughout a number of roles in the district. She is a a wonderful lady dedicated to science and our community, and I want to wish Mary the best of luck in retirement. I know she's got a a lot of things on on her agenda, so I want to congratulate and thank Mary for her service. Thank you. Any other discussion? Okay, could you please call the roll? The other motion is 12. Yep. On item 12, Dr. Capella? Yes. Mr. Davia? Yes. Ms. Schram? Yes. Mr. Chappie is absent. Mr.
028Warren? Yes. Ms. Palacena? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? Yes. Ms. Goulart? Yes, thank you. And Ms. Falcone Schubert? Yes. Can I please have a motion to move items 13, travel and professional development, 14, student and services, 15, resolutions, 16, Sussex County co-op. See with the addendum. So, 13 through What's that? 13 through 16. It's going to be 13 through 16. 13 through 16. I need a second a motion. I'll make it. I'll second. Okay, discussion on items 13 through 16. If you hear none, can you please call the roll? Dr. Capella? Yes. Mr. D'Amico? Yes. Ms. Schram? Yes. Ms. Chaffee is absent. Mr. Warren? Yes. Ms. Paluchina? Yes. Mr. Citarella? >> Yes. Ms. Gullan? Yes. And Ms. Falcone Schubert? Yes. Can I please have a motion um to move item number one on the addendum under resolutions?
029I'll make it. Second. Any discussion? If you hear none. So, let me let me go through uh the two items on the agenda this evening uh on the on the addendum this evening. Um as we have discussed in committee meetings um this month, we continue to look for ways to economize um and find additional savings, uh especially given the fact that we are staring at additional costs um that were not present uh when we struck our budget. And so, one of the things that happened last year because the budgeting process starts in January, budget gets approved in April um on final approval, and then you have this time of period from May to the start of the school year when things come up that aren't are aren't budgeted for. We have gotten to the point
030over the years with state aid cuts that we don't have cushion to absorb large unexpected costs. And one of the things we saw last year was two special needs students moved into the district late in the school year. The cost of educating each of those children, just their tuition at specialized private special education schools is $126,000 for each child. That doesn't include the cost of extended school year, doesn't include the cost of occupational and physical therapy, or transporting those students. And if you remember in the June time frame last year, we ended having to cut four additional positions to be able to absorb that cost. So, one of the things we've continued to do is look for additional ways to save. Coming out of the pandemic, we saw transportation costs for bus transportation soar. We
031also saw shortage of bus drivers, and we saw shortage of the availability of contractors to be able to deliver on contracts. And working with our transportation cooperative, we were able to go out and secure buses during a time period where the wait time on new buses for purchase were 18 to 20 months. We were able to get a hold of buses on lease purchase. We expanded our transportation department to bring that in house. As we've gone over the last 3 years, what we've seen is that the transportation market has stabilized for outside vendors. And we've also seen that pension and health care costs have soared. Our health care costs have gone up 29% and 31% just in the last 2 years, making the break even for us providing transportation in house no longer sustainable. And
032working with an outside vendor like we had done for 20 plus years is now more cost-efficient for us. So, there are two items on the agenda this evening. The first is a resolution that allows us through auction process to sell off our vehicles that we have under lease purchase. We will be keeping two of those vehicles for the purpose of providing support for some special needs students in wheelchairs, and also to provide some additional transportation for field trips, athletic trips, and things of that nature at a cost savings to the district. That's item number one. Item number two under the Sussex County Regional Cooperative, they are a CTSA. We serve as their as their local education association. We are asking this evening that we will be abolishing the positions of bus drivers and bus aids
033through the co-op this evening. That's item number two on the agenda. That will allow us to accept bids from outside private contractors to complete transportation services for the district. We have bid all of our existing transportation routes as a block, so it will be one transportation company, unlike some other school districts that have multiple different transportation companies. The lowest responsible bidder for that process is Kraft Bus. They will also be looking to lease one of our parking lots for additional revenue to the district. That will be behind the high school gym where our current buses are to bring in some additional revenue. Uh, Craft Bus has agreed to, uh, offer jobs to all of our current bus drivers um, that wish to take them up on that offer. Um, and this is a company that
034has a tremendous both safety and and customer focused reputation. Um, I feel very comfortable um, recommending the award of that bid as well, uh, to that company. So, that's items one and two this evening. If there's any further discussion from the board, I certainly welcome to answer any questions that you may have. Jeff, can you, um, just give us an estimate of how much it's saving us year after year? So, if everything goes perfectly, remember that savings account that I said we do not have. Um, worst case scenario, $375,000. Best case scenario, $425,000. Um, we need to, uh, bid out our extended school year for our special ed students. That's not part of the cost, um, but typically it's about $60,000 a year for that summer service. Um, that'll eat into that a little bit.
035But, this will give us the opportunity to have a little bit of savings um, to deal with whatever may come down the pipe here as we go from May until the school year starting up um, and and put us in a position where we won't have to, if something comes out of the woodwork, we wouldn't have to lay off a staff member. Uh, obviously school districts are different. We can't just go out and borrow money if a large bill hits us. Um, we have to have that revenue readily available to do that. Thank you. Mhm. Any other questions or discussion? Okay, so I believe we are voting on item one. >> Item one, yep, is I have a motion by Ms. Schram and a second by Dr. Capella. Okay, please call the roll. Okay, Dr.
036Capella? Yes. Mr. Davia? Yes. Ms. Schram? >> Yes. Mr. Chaffee is absent this evening. Mr. Warren? Yes. Ms. Paluchina? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? >> Yes. Ms. Gulan? Yes. Yes, thank you. And Ms. Falcone Schubert? >> Yes. Can I please have a motion to move item two on the addendum? I'll make it. Second. Any discussion? None? Dr. Capella? Yes. Mr. Davia? Yes. Ms. Schram? Yes. Chaffee is absent. Mr. Warren? Yes. Ms. Paluchina? Yes. Mr. Sitrick? >> Yes. Ms. Gulan? Yes, thank you. And Ms. Falcone Schubert? Yes. Okay, next we'll move on to Board of Education member comments. If you'd like to make a comment, I'll start to my left. Go down the row. Um thank you to those who came out tonight. I wanted to wish our high school students good luck on finals. Um as a
037teacher writing finals, it's not as fun as you think. So, we understand the struggle. Okay. Um and I just want to remind everybody that the hard decisions we make about finances and stuff, um they are hard. And sometimes we don't have a choice and we have to do what's best for the kids. Mhm. And that's it. Sure. >> They're not easy. Thank you. Uh thank you everyone for coming and I'm hoping everyone's enjoying this beautiful weather and I'm hoping it stays this nice for the graduation coming up on June 11th. Okay. Uh I have nothing. Okay, Jim. Just want to share my appreciation for the uh Books and Beyond ceremonies that happened last week. They were great. My daughters uh uh in Derby and Tulsa both partook and uh went very nicely. And also both
038my girls took part of the bike rodeo earlier at Durban, which was well attended and the uh the community sponsors that came out to help with help with fitting and checking bikes and make sure everybody's safe and refreshments and have the ability to have some fun with their friends after school was was really nicely nicely done. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. Yeah, um best of luck with finals. I can't believe we're saying that already. Like this year went by so fast. Um I wanted to say congrats to Mary on her retirement as well. Um and also thank you to you ladies for all you've done this year as well. Appreciate it. I want to echo that. Thank you both student representatives. You girls do a great job. Um and good luck on finals as well. Thank
039you. Um just to kind of echo what Natalia said and what we're all feeling is this addendum was tough. Okay, our bus drivers are amazing. They are our eyes and ears and hearts. Um you know, from the minute that the kids, you know, step on the bus, I feel safe knowing that they're with them. And I'm grateful that the company is able to offer um our staff positions. Um with that said, I do want to kind of talk about like the end of the year. All these events are coming up. And there's been a lot of talk online about what our school district does and does not do as far as um providing opportunities for our kids, you know, kind of extracurricular outside of the classroom. >> [snorts] >> Um what we just did on
040the addendum is an example of the position that we are in. It's very hard for us to do anything extra in addition to just making sure that our classes have what they need and the focus is on academics and safety. Um I would love to be able to, you know, provide more for the students outside of the classroom, but right now that is our focus. Um but what I do want to say is in conjunction with the PTOs, parents, staff, teachers, administration, we do provide a lot for our students, and I know the kids appreciate it. Sometimes the adults get hung up on the checkboxes and what this district have and this district doesn't have, but um we do a lot, and I appreciate everybody who helps cuz I know it's a lot of work.
041So, um as far as I know, kindergarten has fun day. All of the elementary grades have field day. Um all of the elementary grades have field trips. We have assemblies. We have um very cool experiences like Jim just mentioned, Books in Bloom, that's not traditional. That has been going on I think my mom and Mrs. Plantamura started it, and I am too old to tell you um how long ago that was. Um we do have a unique situation in our district where the seventh graders graduate, move up, and go to the high school. When there was overlap for a couple of years in that intro, we did seventh and eighth grade events, but those days have now gone. We are a district that has eighth grade in the high school. Okay, the kids have adapted
042beautifully. Every eighth grader that I talk to is happy to be up there cuz middle school is middle school. So, what we do for seventh grade is a moving up ceremony. We have a breakfast. We have a dance. We have a fun day. They're getting their own yearbook. All of those things are happening. They might not wear a cap and gown, but their name gets called. They get to walk across the stage, and it's a lovely night. And then once you're in the high school, the eighth graders are included in all of the events. They attend the pep rally. They can go to homecoming. Some of them can even participate in clubs, not the sports, but they're there. They're They have good relationships with the with the with the teachers when they do become, you
043know, officially high schoolers. So, I think that's a great opportunity, and there's so many things at the high school that our kids can take advantage of. I don't need to speak to it cuz you guys did a great job of it. So, I just want to say that yes, our focus is on academics and safety, and we do the best we can with what we have to offer the kids opportunities. and not for nothing there are only certain amount of days in the school year and hours in the day and my kids are busy and I know you guys are and I'm sure you guys can say the same thing. So, thank you to all of you and if anybody would like to help with some type of ceremony, additional field trip, after school talent
044show, the more the merrier. We take the help but it costs money and it costs and it's a lot of time. So, I know that there's PTOs and parents who are willing and able to take in those those volunteers. Off my soapbox now. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you all for coming and I just need a motion to adjourn. I'll make it. Second. All right, all in favor? Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you all. Thank you all. I'm sweating. Where's the AC? AC doesn't work in here. [laughter] We don't spend the money on it. Back to exhibit A. No money in the budget. Okay. Keeps it being short and to the point. >> Mhm.